How should a society deal with drugs?

[Mr_Moore]

Having read some opinions from people who are Acist i am curious to find out why they are against the current system with tough drug laws.
If i have understood things correctly you want drugs to be legal and available to everyone?
Drugs are dangerous to humans and that's why they are illegal. You believe in the persons free will to decide whether he wants to take them or not?

[pvn]

Societies don't act. Once you accept that, the answer should be fairly intuitive.

[Mr_Moore]

[ QUOTE ]
Societies don't act. Once you accept that, the answer should be fairly intuitive.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, stupid of me, if you were to deal with drugs in the current society, what would you wish and for what reasons?

[Kaj]

Why are they dangerous?

If you use them irresponsibly and cause harm, you are liable for the damage you cause. If you cause harm to yourself, you can and probably will do harm to yourself anyway. If they are decriminalized, do you think there'll be a mad dash for people to start using hard core drugs? Why? Just because they aren't criminal, all of a sudden most people don't care about their kids, their jobs, their bodies, their lives? That's absurd. Some will use them, and if they abuse them, they'll have a heavy price to pay.

Almost everything is dangerous to humans -- driving, eating red meat, drinking hard liquor, working all week, playing sports, using gas grills, having sex, climbing ladders ... let's ban it all.

[Mr_Moore]

I think whether you abuse drugs or not you may easily find yourself addicted to them and that's when your problems start.
Of course some may harm or kill you right away.

[Kaj]

[ QUOTE ]
I think whether you abuse drugs or not you may easily find yourself addicted to them and that's when your problems start.
Of course some may harm or kill you right away.

[/ QUOTE ]

Junk food, promiscuous sex, liquor, internet poker, adrenaline sports, internet politics forums are addictive as well. If people KNOW something has a high risk of addiction and CHOOSE to partake in it anyway, why do you think it's your job to use violence to stop them?

[theseus51]

Because drug abuse is a medical problem, not a criminal one. We should offer treatment, rather than lock up people. Do you know how much jail space we use for non-violent drug users? We let murderers out early to make room for people who never hurt anyone, they just used drugs.

I guess you have to ask, why don't we lock up alcoholics, people who smoke or get high sniffing glue or paint? How about those that eat a lot of fatty foods? Those people are all hurting their own bodies, but nobody else. Same with drug users. But why give treatment to one segment, and arrest others?

Drug users haven't hurt anybody. If they kill someone, or steal property to feed their drug habit, yeah, then you can arrest them. But until that point, it should be treated as the medical problem it is.

Ron Paul clip, in case you haven't seen it. Try really listen to what he's saying. He sums it up pretty well in 30 seconds. =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88REf0tjZHo

[Edukashun]

Drugs have been used since the dawn of time, it's a very modern idea that some should be restricted.
I have some experience of the pros as well as the cons so I know they can be dangerous.
I do think that if legalised it would save a lot of money as well of removing some of the "do drugs to be a rebel" mentality that many teenagers have.

[hmkpoker]

Drugs are considered bad because the negative effects are severe, yet uncertain. Authoritarians think that the uncertainty of the punishment is insufficent to steer people away from something dangerous, so they want to deter people...with severe and uncertain punishments.

There is no reason to believe that in a world without drug punishment, the majority of the population will degenerate into an orgy of self-gratifying heroin addicts. Very few people who are not deterred by the illegality of drugs will do the ones that are actually dangerous (speed, heroin, crack).

It should also be mentioned that during the industrial revolution, heroin was not only 100% legal, widely available and cheap; it's negative effects were also very unknown. It was sold in cough medicine over the counter to children, and the fears of modern day social conservatives did not manifest. In fact, during this time the most feared and loathed drug of the time was alcohol. It brought about more anti-social effects than any other chemical recreant in existence (and having indulged in many of them myself, I am inclined to agree).

[hmkpoker]

[ QUOTE ]
Drugs have been used since the dawn of time, it's a very modern idea that some should be restricted.
I have some experience of the pros as well as the cons so I know they can be dangerous.
I do think that if legalised it would save a lot of money as well of removing some of the "do drugs to be a rebel" mentality that many teenagers have.

[/ QUOTE ]

Frankly, I think if parents just sat down with their teenage kids and smoked a joint with them, pot would lose all of its coolness.